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Last week started with a 15% two filter clean and had two 2% vaccumings and ended with ~8ppm NO3. This week started with a 5% two filter clean and will get daily 1% vaccumings. Have moved the rotala to the surface.

Obviously, my nitrates are not a problem. The sponges are certainly the main source. Unfortunately I can not say much about the increase in nitrogen consumed by the now emergent rotala since I made the change at the same time as changing my cleaning routine.

12-01-2012 11:09 PM

Amandas tank

Oooo that sounds like it will be extremely nice! I hate the glare from the lights too. When I lay on the couch to watch the tank, I have to turn the T5's off otherwise they shine down right in my line of sight!

12-01-2012 10:09 PM

Gold Finger

I will journal the build. I also like the rimless look, and am tempted, but have my reservations about the safety and practicality. My fish are not likely to jump but, among other things, I don't like the idea of seeing the glare from the lights. I will probably build it at 50" long so I can recess 48" strip lights down inside it using the tank itself like the canopy sides with the top few inches blacked out.

12-01-2012 07:29 AM

Amandas tank

Those dimensions will make for an awesome tank! Be sure and start a journal for it will ya! I'd love to watch the progress of the build.

I like the rimless look but the open top makes me too nervous. I'd be afraid my fish would jump out if startled or something.

Not for a quite a while. It will take a bit more planning. I tore down an old tank and rebuilt it for this 80. The 100 (more likely 120) will be totally custom with starphire glass cut, chamfered and drilled to order. It won't be cheap even though I will put it together, so I want to be sure on the design. I am still considering thigs like the sump/filter and overflow locations and final dimensions. Right now the plan is for a 50"x24"x24", drilled on the end with a slate lined bottom and the sump in the stand but, like I said, I still have a few things I haven't decided on. If I go rimless, for example, the length and height would loose two inches each... I dunno...

12-01-2012 01:40 AM

Gold Finger

Last week started with a 15% two filter clean and had two 2% vaccumings and ended with ~8ppm NO3. This week started with a 5% two filter clean and will get daily 1% vaccumings. Have moved the rotala to the surface.

12-01-2012 01:33 AM

Gold Finger

it's funny how different two tanks which sound the same in theory can be in practice.

12-01-2012 01:32 AM

Gold Finger

Oh yeah, it's easy. It takes about four weeks for a visible layer of algae to form on the glass, then I add a full dose of excell and its gone for another four weeks. I want to end up with a great looking tank, if possible, but am starting with ease of maintainance as my main goal.

11-30-2012 11:22 PM

Amandas tank

Your welcome Man that's awesome that your cleaning is so simple! When I had a bare tank I hated it!!! What a mess! I had to syphon first and then use an algae scrubber to clean what the syphon wouldn't suck up.

11-30-2012 10:11 PM

Gold Finger

Thanks for all your input, Amanda. I am now giving some serious thought to how a backdrop type feature might be incorporated to add to the dynamics... perhaps emulating a large cave somehow.

To answer; the tank is a breeze to clean now. There is one piece of drift that has a shape which traps all of the waste under it. I clean that stuff up almost every day by sliding the drift over with the spihon tube then sucking up all the stuff it reveals. I get almost 100% of the junk in about ten seconds.

11-29-2012 07:37 PM

Amandas tank

I woke up thinking about your tank this morning. Good grief LOL!

Anyway...I forgot to mention that the sketches are simply something to give you ideas and not to tell ya you should start over. You already have driftwood with plants attached. I am not suggesting you change them out for anything else. Just move them around a bit in a way that will give you the appearance of depth and an illusion that nothing is potted. How has it been cleaning the tank since you've added the dw and pots? Do you have to move them or are you able to get the hose angled to suck up dietrist around them?

Anyway, in my sleep lastnight I was thinking about something that could be really cool. You know the 3-D backgrounds a lot of folks make? That could really add a lot to your tank! And, it would cast an image of your background to the bottom of the tank (at least I think it would). If you did something that wrapped around the corners that would even add that much more.

Or.... I don't know if others would recommend this or not...and I don't know how it would work far as cleaning, but I imagine it could be pretty cool. If you could use the same principle as the 3-D background and put it on the bottom! Make it appear to be rocky, like you see in most lakes. Big rocks that slope towards the front of the tank or to the center (big rocks sloping inwards from either side). That way you don't have a ton of crevises to try and clean.

This might be more work thatn you want. But the possibilities! I bet you could make something incredible!

Don't mind my brainstorming k!

11-29-2012 10:50 AM

Amandas tank

When are you thinking of starting a 100 gallon tank?
Okay. I did a bit of reading on the web today and the conscenses is that the folowing plants usually do get minimal nibbling from gold fish. (some get a bit more, but grow fast enough to keep up) Some of these you already have in your tank.

The plants that need substrate can be potted and cover the top with a mesh liner to keep the goldfish from uprooting them. The more plants you plant at once the better because from what I've read, the goldfish don't know what to do (or where to start LOL) with all the plants!

I laid out a few ideas on paper. You might hate the scapes, but hopefully they can get you along in designing your scape.

the scapes look better at a distance...the colors get distorted in the closeups

There ya go! Hope this helps I have more to share with you about the bare bottom but I gotta get to bed. So tired. Night!

11-27-2012 12:51 AM

Amandas tank

I did only 20-25% once a week. I fed them only once a day. How often do you feed? They got a variety of foods to include brine shrimp, blood worms, flakes, algae wafers, floating and sinking pellets and some other type of worm...I can't recall right now. I hated them...they were really gross and white as well as slimy as soon as water touched them. Yuck! (None of the food was live; it was either in pellet form, frozen or dried)

I am going to make a sketch for you to show you what I'm thinking. Be easier than trying to put it into words. I will get it done as soon as I can

11-26-2012 11:19 PM

Gold Finger

Havin' hornwort munched on for the first time. Three moors leave it alone. The one fantail chews it. I know it is a conclusion leap, but maybe breed specific??

Ya know what though...I am curious why you had trouble with so much waste. When I had goldfish I had more than I should have in the tank (my husband just kept adding them ) They cleaned the gravel constantly. There was also a juvenile spotted sailfin in the tank. The tank was always clear of algae and when I'd vaccuum the gravel once a week, hardly anything would come out of it. And I was aggressive with the vaccuum I tell ya! Perhaps it was because of the soil you used? What about using medium smooth gravel or even the Eco-Complete Planted (I love it!) and try that route? I had the water tested twice a week and always had healthy parameters with o ammonia. This tank is the one I mentioned earlier with the few plants in it.

Ummm.. 1) I am surprised to hear that. Most folks say they get tons of waste like i Do. 2) it was partly related to the soil base because you cant vaccuum right down to the mud below, just the surface of the sand. Also, Did you do large water changes? I am not into big water changes and limit it to about 25 gallons a week out of my 90 (counting the sump).

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